Utermohlen, 21, and Richard Sukley, 22, a KU senior, made the 44-mile journey to tell the president -- who visited the liberal arts college to urge passage of health care reform -- he should scrap his plans.

The two men said they were unlikely to be convinced otherwise by anything Obama had to say during his stop in the Philadelphia suburb.

''The government doesn't care about providing health care. It's all about control and power,'' Sukley said.

Throughout the crowd, which gathered to listen to speeches from local tea party movement leaders and Republican political hopefuls such as Mike Fitzpatrick, a candidate for Bucks County's 8th Congressional District, demonstrators said it's not just the health care plan they don't trust.

''I don't trust them,'' said Brian Land, a roofer from Jamison, Bucks County, speaking of the Obama administration. ''There is a fundamental lack of trust.''

The protest, organized by the Independence Hall Tea Party Association, had the colorful array of signs for which the events have become known. One featured a hammer and sickle and proclaimed ''Obamacare Nyet.'' Others read: ''Obama, here's your pink slip,'' ''We the people elect presidents not dictators,'' ''Obama's Pants on Fire'' and ''No Obamacare. No to Socialism.''

Many stuck to now-familiar protests, saying they are concerned about the cost of the health care plan, believe it would add to the federal deficit and are alarmed by rising government spending and intrusiveness.

A few Obama supporters who lacked tickets to the president's speech tried to offer a rebuttal. Kathy DiPangrazio of Montgomery Township said she thinks many of the protesters are unhappy Obama is president and wouldn't care what he proposed.

''I think a lot of these people are here protesting more than the health care issue,'' DiPangrazio said. ''They are protesting that Barack Obama is president.'' She blamed what she called misinformation spread by conservatives in the media.

A February Kaiser Family Foundation poll showed the nation is divided on health care reform, although majorities support some of the current plan's key provisions, such as creating a new health insurance marketplace or expanding high-risk insurance pools for individuals who can't get coverage elsewhere.

As she left Obama's speech, Hillary Kwiatek of Bethlehem, a former Democratic candidate for Lehigh County commissioner, said Obama did a good job explaining some of the health care reform's immediate gains, such as preventing insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

But she wondered if it would be enough to get supporters of reform ''off their sofas'' and into the debate over health care, which she admitted has been dominated by the loud voices of its opponents, many of whom are beyond persuasion.

''I don't think he's going to get through to them,'' Kwiatek said. ''They are organized and they have gotten their talking points down.''